[08:40] <highvoltage> hey las
[08:41] <highvoltage> (ah he left)
[18:16] <TheProf> Good day everyone. I hope you are all well.  So yesterday I did a stupid beginner's mistake and entirely screwed up the OS.  Thankfully /home was a different partition and not affected.
[18:16] <TheProf> I redownloaded the OS for 11.04 and I would like to do an in-place reinstall.  Is there a guide or recommendation on how to do this?
[18:17] <TheProf> I have backed up all the /etc/passwd, groups, installed package list, etc. so I'm ready from that site.
[18:17] <TheProf> side I mean.
[18:18] <HedgeMage> TheProf: If /home is unencrypted, it sounds like you are ready.  If it's encrypted, you'll have a tad more work to do (I hope you have the raw key that your passphrase is used to encrypt, or can still get it)
[18:19] <TheProf> HedgeMage: It is unencrypted.
[18:19] <TheProf> It is also on a separate drive in the server.
[18:20] <HedgeMage> TheProf: It should be pretty straightforward then... back up any configs you've tweaked (if you still can) and re-install.  Just remember when you tell the installer which partition to use for /home to also un-check the box for formatting it!
[18:21] <TheProf> HedgeMage: I have copied any configuration files I made modifications to (I put a comment below or above with my name and then I grep for my name and it lists all the files that I've tweaked) and copied those onto USB stick.
[18:21] <TheProf> So the part I am stuck is exactly that - the installer partition.
[18:22] <HedgeMage> TheProf: Are you using the standard or alternate installer?
[18:22] <TheProf> I saw 4 options: 1) install alongside 2) upgrade 3) erase and reinstall 4) Something else.
[18:22] <TheProf> HedgeMage: I'm not sure which one I'm using -- It is the edubuntu 11.04 DVD installation disc.
[18:22] <TheProf> it is a graphical installer.
[18:26] <TheProf> I am not sure if there is a way to identify which installer it is?
[18:26] <HedgeMage> TheProf: then it's the standard one
[18:26] <HedgeMage> the alternate one is console only
[18:27] <HedgeMage> :)
[18:27] <TheProf> ah. I was going to say it looks like this: http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/extra/LINUX/large/ubuntu1104installation-large_003.jpg
[18:27] <HedgeMage> In the standard one, you choose custom partitioning when you get to the point about wiping the whole disk or not... then if you understand how a partition table looks it's pretty straightforward.  You can just choose the existing home partition to mount at /home, select the correct filesystem, and uncheck the box for formatting it.
[18:33] <TheProf> OK I do have a good understanding of partition tables.  The issue is that it doesn't show me what the existing partition options are in order for me to change them.  Let me get what it says..
[18:35] <TheProf> So it says "allocate drive space" as the title, then it is showing me the SSD (Boot and OS drive) and /dev/sda (/home) but it shows me no mount points.
[18:35] <HedgeMage> Oh, the interface is a littel different with multiple drives... click on /dev/sda and see what it has to say for itself
[18:36] <HedgeMage> I haven't used this in ages, so my memory of it is a little fuzzy
[18:36] <TheProf> It looks like this: http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/extra/LINUX/large/ubuntu1104installation-large_004.jpg
[18:39] <HedgeMage> It seems to have (correctly?) identified sda4 as your /home
[18:39] <HedgeMage> and it's not asking to format it
[18:40] <TheProf> sorry that's a generic screenshot not mine - but it's close.  I'll get the details in a moment -- just on the phone
[18:40] <HedgeMage> np
[18:40] <HedgeMage> I'll be afk to get food soon, but I'll catch up when I return, or others here can help
[18:41] <TheProf> thank you
[18:42] <HedgeMage> np
[19:06] <TheProf> OK sorry - crazy day at school today.  So the screen shows two devices: /dev/mapper/longcrazystring which is the SSD and /dev/sda which is the /home SATA drive
[19:07] <TheProf> /dev/mapper/longcrazystring1 is ext4 and size=37153 MB.  No mount point listed, and used says "unknown"
[19:08] <TheProf> /dev/mapper/longcrazystring5 is swap and sized 12875 MB and used says 0MB, No mount point listed.
[19:08] <TheProf> /dev/sad1 is ext4  and 1000204 MB and used is 56592 MB
[19:08] <TheProf> so I take those to be, in order, /, swap, and /home
[19:08] <TheProf> correct?
[19:11] <TheProf> for each of longcrazystring1, longcrazystring5, and sda1 I set their mount points to /, nothing, and /home.  I left the format boxes UNCHECKED for all.
[19:11] <TheProf> Finally at the bottom it says "Device for boot loader installation" and I selected "dev/mapper/longcrazystring1"
[19:15] <stgraber> highvoltage: I sent the team status for edubuntu to ubuntu-release@lists.u.c
[19:25] <TheProf> Any options before I lose all the report cards? :)
[19:33] <TheProf> HedgeMage: Any chance you're back? :)
[19:36] <TheProf> Hmm...shouldn't I specify that / be formatted else I'll have some files new some files old?
[19:38] <HedgeMage> TheProf: Yes, it's safest
[19:40] <TheProf> HedgeMage: OK I have set that "/" be formatted.  Do the rest of the settings look OK?
[19:42] <HedgeMage> TheProf: Sounds good. :)
[19:42] <TheProf> OK here we go.
[19:44] <TheProf> note to self: set up baremetal backup system
[19:49] <HedgeMage> :)
[19:59] <TheProf> Any recommendations on bare metals backup?
[19:59] <HedgeMage> Are you looking for a local or net-based solution?
[20:07] <TheProf> Local I believe is better for bandwidth.
[20:10]  * HedgeMage nods
[20:11] <HedgeMage> Well, then there are really a few things you can do:
[20:12] <HedgeMage> 1) Set up RAID with redundancy (pros: as reliable as you can get without georedundancy, constantly updated... cons: if the server catches fire all the disks are toast, not cheap to set up unless you have disks lying around, takes a little expertise to get going)
[20:14] <HedgeMage> 2) Get a good external hard disk and use rsnapshot to take space- and bandwidth-efficient back-ups (pros: cost effective, easy,  cons: not georedundant so if the room catches fire both original and back-up are toast)
[20:15] <HedgeMage> 3) Removable media-based storage (tapes, DVDs, whatever) (pros: georedundant... cons: you have to actually remember to change out the media and store it somewhere offsite)
[20:23] <TheProf> thanks for those options.  I do have RAID 1 on /home (or as soon as the disk comes in).
[20:24] <TheProf> rsnapshot is great also so I hope to run that again.
[20:26] <TheProf> option 3 - the DVDs, etc. is the part i need.
[20:33] <TheProf> I used to use mondoarchive for creation of bare metal DVDs but for some reason in this case it didn't like this distribution.
[22:13] <highvoltage> heh @ second comment on http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/11/17/1928203/windows-8-secure-boot-defeated :)
[22:18] <stgraber> nice :)